Patent Trolls

There is no widely agreed upon definition of 'Patent Troll', because it is often used interchangeably with the terms Patent Assertion Entities and Non-Practicing Entities, whereas we make a distinction between these three terms. For our study, we define Patent Trolls as a 'person or entity that attempts to enforce patent rights against accused infringers far beyond the patent's actual value'[1]. Their asked damages are far beyond the market value of the patent. This is a tactic used to scare small businesses in the initial demand letter, when pressing them to pay the fee to license the patent.

Hypothesis: Patent trolls will generally push for settlements and jury trials.